1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the rapid generation of in vivo tissue auto-fluorescence spectra, and in particular to methods and devices for the acquisition of two-dimensional fluorescence excitation-emission maps, useful in the evaluation of heterogeneous tissues.
2. Description of the Background
Tissue fluorescence has been used extensively for various medical purposes, including diagnosing disease, such as cancer of the cervix, assessment of skin aging, and monitoring tissue analytes.
A fluorescent species, i.e., fluorophore, will absorb incident light, and re-emit it at a longer wavelength. Therefore, unlike absorption spectroscopy, fluorescence spectra can only be completely characterized by studying the relationships between emission and excitation found on a two-dimensional excitation-emission map. However, due to conventional instrumentation constraints, excitation-emission maps have been sparingly used until recently. Instead, spectra taken from a projection onto either the excitation or emission axes, i.e., only varying the excitation or emission wavelengths, have been gathered. For example, emission scans, which involve excitation of the sample with a single wavelength and scanning the sample""s emissions, have been popular because they can utilize a laser light source. Further, excitation scans require generating illumination over many wavelengths, and so are typically performed with a continuous-spectrum light source. However, because the spectrum is recorded at a constant emission wavelength, excitation scans require the use of sensitive photomultiplier detectors.
Both emission and excitation scans, as well as synchronous scans, in which both excitation and excitation wavelengths are simultaneously incremented, have been extensively described in the literature. In addition, for homogeneous samples prepared in a cuvette, at least one commercial manufacturer offers an instrument which gathers an excitation-emission map at once in a cuvette. It does this by spreading the excitation beam along the length of the cuvette. The fall spectrum excites any homogeneous sample. The resulting fluorescence is then collected and diffracted in the orthogonal direction. This process results in a two-dimensional excitation/emission image, which is collected with a two-dimensional CCD device.
This instrument depends upon sample homogeneity to work. However, in vivo tissues are quite inhomogeneous, and so would not be suitable for use with this instrument (even if taken ex vivo and placed in a cuvette). In fact, this inhomogeneity is a problem with in vivo fluorescence, as many spectra at different sites must be obtained and averaged in order to get a representative spectrum.
Consequently, there is a need for a device that can be used to gather and process fluorescent spectra from tissue in vivo, despite any inhomogeneity which may be present in the tissue.
The present invention overcomes the problems and disadvantages associated with current strategies and designs and provides a device useful for analyzing heterogeneous tissues in vivo. The present invention applies the technique of gathering an excitation-emission map simultaneously, using a two-dimensional CCD or similar photon detector, to in vivo tissue, while at the same time ameliorating the inhomogeneity problem that plagues in vivo fluorescence spectroscopy.
Accordingly, one embodiment of the invention is directed to a method for evaluating fluorescence of a heterogeneous tissue comprising the steps of exciting a two-dimensional portion of the tissue surface with excitation radiation at a plurality of excitation wavelengths, collecting emission radiation from the two-dimensional portion of the tissue surface simultaneously with excitation, and forming a two-dimensional excitation-emission map of the excitation radiation and the simultaneously collected emission radiation and spatially averaging the excitation and emission radiation.
Another embodiment is directed to an instrument for evaluating fluorescence of a heterogeneous tissue comprising means for exciting a two-dimensional portion of the tissue surface with excitation radiation at a plurality of excitation wavelengths, means for collecting emission radiation from the two-dimensional portion of the tissue surface simultaneously with excitation, and means for forming a two-dimensional excitation-emission map of the excitation radiation and the simultaneously collected emission radiation and spatially averaging the excitation and emission radiation.
Another embodiment is directed to a method of rapidly gathering UV and visible fluorescence spectra in vivo which have been spatially averaged over tissue, the method comprising the steps of illuminating strips of tissue with excitation radiation simultaneously at a plurality of excitation wavelengths, collecting emission radiation simultaneously from the strips of tissue with the step of illuminating with the plurality of excitation wavelengths, and disposing the emission radiation onto a two-dimensional array of detector elements, wherein the two-dimensional detector disposition is arranged by wavelength to form a two-dimensional excitation-emission map, in which all elements in the map are collected at once.
Still another embodiment is directed to an instrument for rapidly gathering UV and visible fluorescence spectra in vivo which have been spatially averaged over tissue, the method comprising means for illuminating strips of tissue with excitation radiation simultaneously at a plurality of excitation wavelengths, means for collecting emission radiation simultaneously from the strips of tissue with the step of illuminating with the plurality of excitation wavelengths, and means for disposing the emission radiation onto a two-dimensional array of detector elements, wherein the two-dimensional detector disposition is arranged by wavelength to form a two-dimensional excitation-emission map, in which all elements in the map are collected at once.
Other embodiments and advantages of the invention are set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part, will be obvious from this description, or may be learned from the practice of the invention.